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December 21, 2006

Damn. Another Loss.

Filed under: Basketball,Opponent(s) — Chas @ 10:53 pm

Aargh. I liveblogged this thing for AOL tonight. I already feel like I have a hangover.

Some thoughts on this. I expected to be angry if Pitt lost regardless of how they played. Can’t have them losing 2 in a row on the road or otherwise. That said, I’m disappointed in the loss but not in the effort and the way they played.

After the Wisconsin game, everyone was upset about the effort, the lack of focus and simply looking like they were coasting. That wasn’t happening in this game. Overall, the energy level was just much higher. Pitt was diving to the floor, getting after things.

Sam Young finally started looking like his explosiveness was returning. Unfortunately, along with the explosiveness, so was some of the mindlock silly fouls from last year.

Oklahoma State is a very good team. They impressed me. Neither team was able to impose their style for the whole game. Only spurts. Both Pitt and OSU had moments where they were playing their game, and there were other points where they found themselves in an unfamiliar style. As you would expect, the teams, despite different styles played a very even game.

Mario Boggan is a great undersized college forward. His game was the kind we used to admire from Chevy Troutman, outfighting the big trees underneath and getting the ball. Only Boggan can hit FTs. Boggan also did a great job of bringing Gray way out from under the hoop when Pitt was on defense. It is something Pitt has to adjust to, because teams will keep doing it — if they have any sense. With Gray away from under the basket, the Panthers are not a tremendous rebounding team inside. You wonder why Pitt was so outrebounded on the boards, that has a lot to do with it. Even if Gray isn’t grabbing the board, he’s clogging things up to give the other players a chance. It was a subtle adjustment OSU made early in the game. Gray grabbed 4 in the first few minutes of the game, then only a half-dozen or so after that.

I don’t know what has happened to Kendall. He is just playing without any confidence. Everytime he takes a shot, I don’t think even he knows if it will go down. I really thought when he hit his first jumper in the game things would go his way, but he is just looks lost out there. It reminds me of his sophomore year where he started breaking out, then he started missing some shots and his confidence disappeared.

Antonio Graves made a big mistake when he tried to foul and grabbed the guy around the neck/shoulder. Even if Eaton hadn’t gone down, that was too obvious a call not to make. It marred an otherwise effective game, even going 5-7 on FTs.

If Mike Cook could play defense, he’d be a candidate for an All-American.

More later when a more accurate box score comes out. Stats like rebounding, TOs, assists and such are notoriously unreliable immediately after a game.





I have to admit. I’m disappointed with the loss and I’d have pin this one on Dixon (as well as our poor rebounding and free throw shooting).
I don’t want to hear any more comments about Pitt’s depth. Tonight’s loss was like losing a 12-round decision to a one-handed boxer. The Cowboys have seven scholarship players.
Two of them played a large portion of the game in foul trouble and two more were bothered by injuries that forced them to leave the game at one point. Pitt didn’t take advantage of this obvious advantage.
Kendall is a non-factor on offense and can’t play defense without fouling. Biggs has gone dark after showing some early-season confidence on the offensive end of the floor. He’s a liability on defense.
Fields played relatively well and Graves was a factor despite the bad foul at the end. Gray is still under the weather but had another solid night.
Cook is the real deal on offense. He needs to step it up on defense, but you could say that for the entire Pitt team at the moment.
Young may make some youth-related mistakes, but you can’t deny his enthusiasm and tenacity. It’s time to sit Kendall and start Sam.
And where was Ramon? In a back-and-forth game like that it would have been nice to see him in there knocking down a few threes to give us some separation. Perhaps even make a free throw or two to keep the game from going to overtime.
No shame in losing to Wisconsin and Oklahoma State on the road, but I expected Pitt to win at least one of these contests
Obviously not the end of the world, but we’ll have to go on a run here soon to keep our collective psyche from getting crushed.
Who knows how long Dixon can keep such a “deep” team together if we continue to lose? Accepting a limited role is easy when you’re winning. Not so much when you’re on the other side of the fence.

Comment by Dave in Orlando 12.21.06 @ 11:34 pm

Watched the fourth quarter and overtimes last night – my first exposure to the BB team. Have to say I was impressed with the desire & hustle – but not at all impressed with the ability to get things done when it counted, especially needed free throws. I did realize that home court advantage means something – more so in BB than FB, and for PITT to go into two OTs in that atmosphere was pretty decent.

BTW, agree with the intentional call at the end of the game.

Comment by Reed 12.22.06 @ 7:10 am

I just read the latter comments on the Open Thread post and had to laugh a little – especially when seeing the posts comparing the BB team losing this game (these last two games actually) to the FB team. One nice thing about the NCAA BB season is there is always a chance for redemption at the end of the season with the playoffs, both the conference and NCAA tournaments.

PITT’s a little through the first quarter of the season and guys are already writing them off – without the main conference play even happening yet. This is what comes from even dreaming of a National Championship instead of grounding expectations in reality. Polls, especially pre-season polls, mean nothing really, and even less in BB than in a 12 game FB season. Aren’t they 7-2 at this point with both losses on the road to top 20 teams? There is nothing wrong with that at all.

I’ve noticed that in both BB and FB the head coaches have been very non-committal with what they have said they expect from their teams. Maybe that’s what is taught in Head Coaching 101, but it’s probably more like they know what they have more than we do. We might like to think that all the parts are in place before the first game, but in BB especially the season is so long that what a team is like pre-season might not be the character and quality of the team in March.

I very much enjoyed watching PITT play last night, and was proud of the effort they gave, and maybe that’s because I am not so wrapped up in them that I can put some distance in my viewing – unlike watching the train wreck of the second half of the FB season. But, this is a team that looks like it will be very competitive in their games, and will be a fun team to follow as they progress toward the tourneys. I think they will do well.

Comment by Reed 12.22.06 @ 8:03 am

Last nights loss really hurts, but if it makes Kendall realize that he needs to play better then it is worth it. Three freaking rebounds from your power forward. That is just pathetic. Either Kendall plays better or he goes to the bench. Young didn’t do too much better on the boards, but he is just so much more explosive. He is a real threat offensively and did the best job on Bogans. Hopefully we really take our frustrations out on Dayton.

Comment by Omar 12.22.06 @ 8:34 am

I have to say, I am not too disappointed with the loss. Obviously I wish they would have beaten OKST on the road, but I love the scheduling this year. I’ll take a 2 OT loss on the road to a Top 10 team vs. beating VCU by 25 at home any day of the week in December.
We go into Big East season already battle tested and we will just improve.
Now we will go into the Dance with a bunch of tough test already behind us.
Remember, December games mean NOTHING. We are going to the Tourney and that is all that matters. This just better prepares us for the ultimate test, March Madness.

Comment by Roman 12.22.06 @ 9:00 am

Our defensive flaws exposed, notably a lack of quickness, demands that we hire Boeheim for a week to teach us Zone 101.

Comment by steve 12.22.06 @ 9:07 am

Can we play defense without committing a foul?

Reed, you say “This is what comes from even dreaming of a National Championship instead of grounding expectations in reality.”

But winning a national championship was and still is (I guess) a reality for this year and not just by Pitt fans but nationally Pitt has been talked up as a final four team with depth and experience. This team by all measures should be the real deal. But much like the football team they can never seem to take that elusive “next step”. I am disappointed with how sloppy the play has been and the lack of a leader on the floor – a guy who wants the ball in crunch time (except Gray). But you cant always rely on a big guy especially the way hes going to get hacked. We need someone willing to take the big jumper when the game is on the line. As for Kendall, it is well documented that I’ve never been a fan. With all of his experience he brings very little to the table. It will be interesting to see how this team responds.

Comment by Rex 12.22.06 @ 9:15 am

Rex, I understand that – and it’s a source of pride for PITT fans to be mentioned for a championship nationally. But, what I am trying to say is that even with all the talk, a national championship would still be an aberration for us and maybe we expect(not hope) should be to succeed at a level that we have a real chance of reaching. I’m not the biggest BB fan – at least not on the level you and other posters are, but I’d hate for the true PITT BB fans to be disappointed & turned off from this team by either these two losses – or later down the road by not winning a national championship, when they might just do very well for the remainder of the season and the NCAA tourney.

I guess its a “shoot for the stars, but be satisfied if you reach the moon” situation – unlike the FB program where a launch off the pad without exploding would be nice.

Not impressed with Kendell either, and after watching him play was surprised when I remembered all the very positive posts about him before the season started. Liked Grey and Cook though.

Comment by Reed 12.22.06 @ 9:44 am

whoa, whoa, whoa……losing to a couple good teams on the road isn’t the end of the road, but no one who follows this team closely should be thinking about nat’l championships or Final 4s. Those are ridiculously out-sized expectations for this team. They’re a little better offensively than in past years, but for anyone to think that means all of a sudden they’re a nat’l championship contender is just nuts. People need to stop reading hype from pre-season nat’l publications and watch the games. It’s the same players minus Krauser plus Cook. How that takes Pitt from tournament disappointment to the Final has me baffled.

Comment by yuri demetris 12.22.06 @ 9:52 am

The same way it does in football, all of those players from last year have one more year of playing experience and Gray is better than last year. And I think we had a pretty good record last year so that is what leads to expectations.

Comment by Rex 12.22.06 @ 10:03 am

“I don’t want to hear any more comments about Pitt’s depth. Tonight’s loss was like losing a 12-round decision to a one-handed boxer. The Cowboys have seven scholarship players.”

That may be the analogy of the year, Dave.

I was and am VERY disappointed in the loss. The effort was better than in the Wisconsin game, but it’s frustrating anytime you lose two games in a row…especially when we haven’t really beaten anyone yet. I know they are two ranked teams, but going into the games, we were ranked ahead of both of them. To me, title contenders find a way to win one of those.

I’m not in any way writing the season off – you can’t do that in college basketball as anything can happen in the tournament. But you have to be a little disappointed and look at the WAY they’re losing games….getting outrebounded, missing free throws, silly fouls, etc. Championship teams don’t do that (at least not all in one game).

As someone noted above, this team is better offensively. It looks like with the better offense, the defense and rebounding have suffered a little.

You simply can’t foul as much as they have been – especially when their opponents have been shooting free throws well. They did a better job of getting to the line, but it doesn’t matter if you miss the shots. What did we shoot, like 65-70% from the line? I think they were somewhere around 85% – too big of a difference to make up.

Wisconsin has the talent to be a Final Four team if that Butch kid really steps up like he did against us. But to be honest, I wasn’t all that impressed with Oklahoma State. Near the end of the game and in the OTs, how many offensive rebounds did we give up and how many times did we send them to the line? I know they’re a decent team, but I don’t think they’re a top ten team….then again, maybe neither are we.

Comment by PittHoops 12.22.06 @ 10:25 am

Only one team wins the National Championship out of 317. No fan will be disappointed if it isn’t us this year. We will be disappointed if we go out and lose in the first round or second round of the tournament. If this team makes the sweet sixteen I will be satisfied. More importantly, if we get that far I think we have a serious shot at advancing one more round and then all bets are off.

yuri you said it yourself, last years “tournament disappointment”. If they met expectations last year they should have advanced past the sweet sixteen. This team should have the same, if not more, expectations.

Comment by Omar 12.22.06 @ 10:26 am

Expectations to be the best team in a Big East conf that promises to be way down are fine. Even expectation to improve over the last few year’s tournament performance are fine. It’s expectations that all of a sudden Pitt is fundamentally different than before and should now be mentioned with the Floridas and the UCLAs and the NCs that don’t make any rational sense. You can trot out all the winning percentages over the past few years you want and Pitt is still just a good Top 15 team. And I’m fine with that.

Comment by yuri demetris 12.22.06 @ 10:27 am

PittHoops you are forgetting one very important fact regarding last night’s game. It was in Oklahoma City. If that game was at home, Pitt would have blown them out. The crowd got them back in the game in the first half and gave them a huge lift down the stretch.

Pitt may fall out of the top 10 for now, but if we can finish off the non-conference strong and go into Big East on a roll good things will happen.

One positive is the fact that everything we did wrong we can do better. And we learned that Aaron Gray has the ability to win us a game down the stretch. He made some huge plays at the end of the game. Plays that he did not make last year. I really like what I saw out of him.

Comment by Omar 12.22.06 @ 10:32 am

Florida sucks and was very lucky to win the national championship last year. I am not impressed with them. Same with UCLA. North Carolina is a different story because they have NBA All Star talent at every position. Not NBA role player talent, NBA star talent.

Comment by Omar 12.22.06 @ 10:35 am

OK, you’re not impressed. Not sure if that matters. Noah and Horford are NBA players and Brewer’s a great swingman, Green’s a nice PG and Humphrey can shoot the lights out. They won the national championship convincingly, but you’re not impressed. Collison’s the quickest PG in the country, Afflalo’s a stud, they have Shipp back and Mbah a Moute is a do-everything scoring/rebounding maniac. Not sure what it takes to impress you, but I doubt Billy D. and Ben H. care.

Comment by yuri demetris 12.22.06 @ 11:02 am

It’s all about the matchups. Florida was the worst possible matchup for Villanova and that is the bracket they were in. They were very lucky to beat Georgetown in the sweet 16. And their matchup in the Final 4 was freaking George Mason. They had perhaps the easiest road to the Final 4 ever. South Carolina beat them twice last year. I don’t need to defend my opinion. UCLA was a Gonzaga brain fart away from being sent home. UCLA and Florida are hardly unbeatable and Pitt could certainly play with them. The fact that UCLA and Florida were the two teams left standing last year gives me more confidence that Pitt has an opportunity to make a deep tourney run.

By the way are you the yuri who played for pitt and was kicked off the team?

Comment by Omar 12.22.06 @ 11:27 am

Oh, to be so lucky. Fla took the best the Big East had to offer and George Mason was for real. Beating UConn and Wich St (and I think NC and Mich St) was no fluke. Of course Fla and UCLA aren’t unbeatable…that’s not the point. The point is, they’ve proven themselves already. I don’t mean to be a naysayer, it just seems irrational to expect incredible things from a group of Pitt players who haven’t ever proven anything on a nat’l scale yet. The relentless “we’ve just got to fix a few things and we’ll be #1” attitude starts to grate after a while. Let’s enjoy a good team and be realistic.

Comment by yuri demetris 12.22.06 @ 11:50 am

Just a note to the many part time bball fans here. College bball is not like colllege football. The home court advantage is huge. Between equal teams, the home team wins more than 2/3 the time. Pitt is now 2-2 on the road. Here’s where some other top teams stand in that regard:

Florida 0-1
Duke 0-0
North Carolina 0-0
Ohio State 0-1
Wisconsin 1-0
Okla St. 0-1
UCLA 0-0
Arizona 1-1
Alabama 1-1
Kansas 0-1

Surprisingly Witchita St at 4-0 is the only other top 10 team with multiple road wins.

Comment by fred 12.23.06 @ 12:03 am

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